Folk for punks
One of the great under-the-radar talents in Canada is Eamon McGrath. With a new album on the way, the DIY punk folkie with the distinctive voice and relentless energy decided to play his entire new album before it is officially released at a special show on Saturday, Feb. 18, at the Bovine Sex Club. We caught up with McGrath to get all the details, and here are a few of the highlights:
• I want to raise some hype for the record and I want people to hear it in a setting that is exciting and visceral and punk.
• I come at it with the urgency of punk rock that's kind of my upbringing.
• It is kind of like Toronto's true punk room.
• Some songs are quiet, some loud. The record is pretty all over the map, and the show will be all over the map. Whenever I play with a band in Toronto, whenever the four of us get together, it is pretty heavy and energetic. They are like my Crazy Horse in a lot of ways,. It opens up an animal in me I don't otherwise get the chance to nurture if I'm playing alone. It always ends up being sweaty, drunken rock 'n' roll.
• The album does have some country and soul elements, but it is tied together under the hardcore punk banner.
• I put out Peace Maker in 2010 and almost immediately started touring Canada and Europe pretty much constantly for two years. I did a string of something like 180 shows.
• Really, the true theme, the thesis of the record, was the result of Sidney Crosby scoring that goal in the Olympics a couple years ago. It was noon in Edmonton, and I was having a Baileys with my Mom and watching the game. He scored and literally at that moment I reached over and wrote the title track, a song called "Young Canadians."
• I realized the whole point of what the record was — true Canadian moments. How, in this country, you can have something in common with someone who lives thousands of miles away. Canadian history is defined by moments that united people regardless of geographic and cultural differences, and I wrote it through that kind of lens.
• I'm 23, but I've been playing punk rock for over 10 years. I was in a band when I was 12, you know. I opened for The Evaporators when I was 14 in this hardcore punk band I was in. I've done a lot of touring, listened to a lot of music — age is kind of arbitrary.
• Yeah, I get compared to Chuck Ragan a lot (of Hot Water Music). It's a funny thing. I have a lot of friends that like them, but I don't really go for that style of punk rock, too much noodling. I like big cowboy chords and shit, power chords. The punk rock I always grew up on was stuff like GBH and Minor Threat. Hot Water was a little too complicated. I like it pretty cut and dry, black and white.
Strumming a new tune
Hot indie upstarts The Strumbellas are headlining a big night at the Rivoli on Feb. 17 in support of the release of their new — and killer — debut album, My Father and The Hunter. The band has slowly but surely amassed quite the following, and they'll be out in droves this weekend. But there is always room for a few newbies to the growing legions of Strumbell-ites who groove to the band's catchy blend of indie rock and bluegrass. And the album? I've heard it already, and even though I like every album that puts the banjo front and centre, it is more than good. This is a debut, mind you, so the folks hailing from Lindsay, Ontario have been working on these tunes, well, since birth. And it shows. You really feel like there is this small-town charm at work, but the band has the ability to turn on a dime and crank out a big rock sound. There is true depth. If you like bands such as The Sadies and Cuff the Duke, it is a no brainer — you'll love them.
She's so cold
Big news from the next-big-thing camp: a release date has been etched in stone for the debut album of the one-and-only Cold Specks. The album, entitled I Predict a Graceful Expulsion, will be released on May 22 on the Arts & Crafts label. Hailing from Etobicoke, Cold Specks (real name Al Spx) is riding a way of critical enthusiasm over her debut single "Holland." Aland who doesn't want to listen to some good old doom soul? Am I right? Apparently her music has been inspired by that of the deep south, and is characterized by sparse arrangements and chain gang rhythms. But the voice is the thing, and it'll just stop you in your tracks man. She's the real deal, and, as I've previously stated, she is going to blow up in a big way this year. She's pegged to open up for the Great Lake Swimmers on their tour later this year, and it is one not to miss.
Fire it up
Toronto band The Fires Of are celebrating the release of a new EP with a big show at Lee's Palace on Feb. 18. Fronted by vocalists Lisa Di Diodato and Graeme Donnelly, the band plays an upbeat blend of indie pop characterized by a rich sonic soundscape that utilizes all manner of instrumentation, including the occasional hit from a didgeridoo. The new EP, The Noise Around the Mean, contains five tracks, the strongest of which is the lead song "Memories In Flight," which has a cool little intro and then just soars with both vocalists harmonizing to dramatic effect. It is pretty sweet, and deserves a good crank of the volume dial/button/thing. Other members of the band include Steve Canning, Chris Hayward, Greg Heard, Peyton Leung and Larry Yuan. Preview tracks on the EP here and then go check them out this Saturday.
Sink or swim(mers)
One of the country's best bands, Tony Dekker's Great Lake Swimmers, have released another song from their upcoming album New Wild Everywhere. The song is sung entirely in French and is entitled "Les Champs De Progéniture." The new album, the band's fifth, is produced by London, Ontario's whiz kid Andy Magoffin, and is scheduled for release on April 3. The band is currently scheduled to play South by Southwest in March followed by a quick jaunt through Europe in April and then back for a long North American tour starting May 1 in Chicago. They'll be landing in Toronto on June 2.
Junk in your trunk
The venerable Toronto group Cowboy Junkies have announced March 27 as the release date for their new album, The Wilderness, thus concluding their stellar four-album series The Nomad. "The title, The Wilderness, in some odd way seemed to define what these songs were actually 'about:' fragility, emptiness, loneliness, beauty, chance, loss, desperation, the delicate balancing act that makes up a life," explains guitarist Michael Timmins, in a recent statement regarding the album. "They are about being lost in the wilderness of age, the wilderness of parenthood, in the wilderness of just trying to find meaning and substance, happiness and trash in one's day to day life. They are about standing alone in (the) middle of it all, breathing in the cold still air and wondering." Over the last 18 months, the band has released three very distinctive albums including Renmin Park, inspired by a visit to China; Demons, inspired by the late, great American singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt and the most recent Sing In My Meadow, which is a crazy psychedelic blues romp — can't go wrong with any of them. Go to their label, Latent Records, and have a listen.